The Last Devil Star
by lborgia88
Summary: Months after his "death" at Cross Karakoram, Joe has returned -as a cyborg. Filled with doubt and self-loathing, he is unable to return to the Science Ninja Team. But, the first mission of his quest to destroy Sosai X will make him rethink everything...


"How terrible. They have to fulfill their duty even if it means self-destruction."

Jun the Swan, The Plot to Assassinate Dr. Nambu (Episode 31)

**The Last Devil Star**

I've known many bad days; I was Condor Joe of the Science Ninja Team. I fought a war against Galactor. I was supposed to be done; I was _supposed_ to dead. But the worst day -worse even, I think, than waking after my parents were murdered- was the day I first became conscious in Dr. Raphael's lab, the day I found out what he had done to me.

I'm a cyborg. I'm a monster, a sin against nature. Galactor had never failed to turn science to the most perverted ends possible, and I'd always believed that their cyborgs were the pinnacle of their depravity. And Dr. Raphael, he was their creator.

I tried to kill him. I wanted to kill him, but I couldn't control this body I'm in now, the body that I will never again be able to call _my_ body. This isn't my skin. My skin should be riddled with bullet scars; I remember feeling those bullets enter my body, at Cross Karakoram. These can't be my muscles. I'm stronger now than any human could ever be, _should_ ever be. My balance is perfect, my vision is perfect, my head never hurts –How much of this brain is still _my_ brain? I know I was dying of brain damage, before. What in God's name is inside this head now?

But I look in a mirror, and my face is still my face; the small marks and scars that only I would know are still there. It's the cruelest thing that Raphael did to me, whether he realizes it or not. It would be easier if I could look at a stranger's face in the mirror.

I didn't kill Raphael, that day. I was too clumsy, crashing into things, and he shot me with a tranquilizer dart before I could get my hands on him. The second time I was conscious, he'd learned his lesson and I was strapped down with bonds even these muscles couldn't break. I told him that he couldn't keep me like this forever, that sooner or later I'd get my chance, and then I'd kill him, and then myself. _I wanted to be dead_.

"Sosai X is returning to Earth."

That's the first thing Dr. Raphael said to me, that second time. I don't trust anything he's told me, except this. It's the only reason that he's still alive, that I'm still here. It's the only reason that I agreed to eat, agreed to learn how to use this body, agreed to accept Dr. Raphael's help with my new mission.

I'm going to destroy Sosai X.

Until the day I succeed, I have a purpose, a reason to not be dead. Afterwards, I can end this, and no one will ever know I didn't die at Cross Karakoram, no one except Raphael.

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That's why I'm here now, at Harmehr-daro.

"What," Dr. Raphael asked me, "do you know about the Indus Valley civilization?"

"Only that it's some ancient civilization in Pakistan that only matters now to archaeologists," I'd answered him.

"It will matter now to you too. With Sosai X's return, Galactor is regrouping and rebuilding. I have reason to believe that they are reoccupying a secret base underneath the ancient site of Harmehr-daro, high in the Toba Kakar Mountains. You are the ideal person to infiltrate and investigate this place. I will provide you with means of transportation and all necessary equipment. If what you tell me is true, if you are truly committed to the destruction of Sosai X, then you will begin at Harmehr-daro. You have been in my lab for many months now; it is time that you left and made yourself useful."

One thing I'll say about Raphael, he's not a cheapskate. False identity papers, a first class plane ticket to Karachi, and then to Quetta, money to purchase a jeep that can handle mountain roads, weapons, mountain climbing gear, water and food provisions, he supplied it all.

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It wasn't easy getting here. I had to leave the jeep behind twenty miles ago. It took climbing boots and a pick axe to reach the crest I'm sitting on now. But I can see Harmehr-daro well from here. It's totally bleak here in these mountains. There's no vegetation, nothing but rock. I'm crouching behind a boulder, using binoculars to study the ancient fortress.

"It is highly unlikely," Raphael had said, "That you will encounter anyone as you approach Harmehr-daro. In that remote region, the locals are superstitious and they fear the place. Galactor, no doubt, uses that to their advantage. The locals believe that there is an ancient labyrinth there, deep under the ground, where the souls of those who have been cursed wander eternally. And some, it is believed, find their way out…"

So far, I haven't seen any locals, and the only cursed soul here is me. I could have approached Harmehr-daro from the other direction; that would have been far easier terrain. But I kept thinking, that's what Galactor would expect. If they're on the lookout, that's where they'll be looking –not over here where I am now. Harmehr-daro sits on the edge of a high cliff. It's been badly eroded by nature over the past few millennia, but I can still make out the remains of walls, pillars, stairs. I can also see some openings in the ground that have worn stairs leading downward into darkness. If Galactor is here, they're covering their tracks well. If anyone is in there, looking this way, they shouldn't be able to see me; I'm keeping low, keeping still and my clothes are a dusty brown color that exactly matches the rocks.

But something catches my attention, and I begin scanning the cliff face with my binoculars. I'll be damned, is someone climbing the cliff? I zoom in, maximum magnification. Whoever the hell it is, they're dressed in brown like me and climbing skillfully. It looks like they've got a sniper rifle strapped to their back.

_This_ is interesting. It's definitely not an archaeologist or someone who climbs cliffs for fun, but definitely not Galactor either.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Where have I heard that? At any rate, it might be applicable here. Aha! I see where they're headed now; there, in the cliff wall. There's something there. Is that a way inside? As I continue to watch, the climber reaches their destination, and then is gone from my view. An air duct, or an unmanned surveillance station –what has that climber just entered?

I'll have to go find out for myself. I begin moving down the long, rocky slope, towards the base of the cliff. This cyborg strength has definitely been useful today. My pack must weigh fifty pounds, filled with a bunch of crap that Raphael said I might need.

The cliff face looms above me. Yes, this person is my friend, whether they realize it or not. They've left their pitons still hammered into the cliff face, all the way up to that mysterious entrance. This makes my ascent far quicker and easier than I'd expected.

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Air duct, it's definitely an air duct. If there was a screen hiding it, it must have fallen off. I glance upward. The top of the cliff face is still at least a hundred feet up. Entering from this side, from this place, I will be deep underneath Harmehr-daro. So far, so good.

I crawl forward about twenty feet. The duct takes a turn, but then straightens out again and I can see light up ahead.

I can see out now. Holy shit, this place is huge and this place is _definitely_ a Galactor base! It's an enormous circular room, the size of a stadium. I seem to be on the second level, which encircles the entire room like a gymnasium's running track. Below, I see stacks and stacks of munitions and explosives, cases of what are probably weapons, and some small aircraft. There are Galactor soldiers down there, dozens of them, still wearing the same damned green uniforms they've always worn. Some are operating fork lifts, moving cases and crates around; some appear to be doing maintenance work on the aircraft. Some are standing around with clipboards, shouting and pointing. Some are at computer terminals.

This second level is not especially well lit and is deserted, except for my "friend."

She's about thirty feet in front of me, crouched at the railing, looking down into the large open area below where all the activity is occurring. Yes, I'm close enough now to be able to tell she's a she –her clothes are fairly closefitting and no guy has curves like that. She's travelling light; her backpack is small. She's obviously not planning to stick around for long. She's got her sniper rifle out, but she's clearly waiting for a specific target.

I'm still squatting in the air duct. I peer out slightly, looking up. Something's moving across the wall in the distance, coming this way. It's on a track that's attached to the wall, about twenty feet up, that circles the entire second level.

Shit! It looks like a laser cannon, with a surveillance camera.

If I stay in the air duct, it won't see me, but it's definitely going to see my "friend." She's still holding her rifle, and all her attention is focused on what's happening down below. She hasn't spotted the laser cannon.

As far as I'm concerned, I owe her nothing. I work alone now. But, she did make my job a little easier today, even if she doesn't know it, and if the cannon starts shooting, that's going to bring the Galactor soldiers running up here and everything will be on high alert.

"Pssst!" I try my best piercing whisper. No result.

"Hey!" Now I'm trying for a muted shout.

That works, she whips around. She's wearing some kind of stocking mask, but I can see her eyes. First she sees me, but then she sees the laser cannon, silently gliding towards us. She abandons her position at the railing and dashes back to the wall, to the air duct.

Too late! The cannon's trained on her and it fires. It misses her by about an inch; lucky for her, she moves fast.

She's at the air duct. Is she about to climb back in?

"Not here!" I hiss, "We'll be sitting ducks if we descend that cliff face now!"

I can see she understands. I jump out of the air duct, careful to stay against the wall. If we stay right up against the wall, the laser cannon shouldn't be able to hit us unless it moves further down the track. It's straight above us now.

However, that's not going to stop the Galactor soldiers, now rushing up a staircase from below on the other side of the room, from shooting us as soon as they get over here.

At the same time, we both get the same idea. We run for it, heading clockwise. There's got to be somewhere else we can go.

Shit, shit, shit! The cannon's firing at us again. It's missing us but it's totally trashing the wall. If we stop running, it'll waste us for sure. Up ahead, I can see at least fifty Galactor soldiers running towards us. So much for sneaking in quietly.

There's a large, smooth panel on the wall; it's different from the rest of the wall. I have nothing to lose now; time to see what these cyborg legs are capable of. I give the panel my best roundhouse kick. Yes! The panel shatters all around where my foot hit it. There's a hole now, a hole big enough to fit through. I dive through it, and my "friend" follows me.

Just then, the cannon fires at the panel. The remains of the panel shatter, and so does the wall above it.

Chunks of rubble, large and small, are falling on and around us. The air is filled with dust and it's dark. I can't tell what's happening. Whatever we're standing on, it's collapsing under our feet. We're falling, falling in the dark. Dust and debris are falling with us.

I'm not sure how far I fall, but my feet connect with solid ground. I hear my "friend" gasp in sudden agony. A piece of falling rock hits me in the head. Fuck! That hurt! I drop to my knees.

I can't see a damned thing. I can hear her, though. She's breathing the way only someone in a lot of pain breathes.

I can hear a low, deep rumble. It's not something I've ever heard before, but intuitively, I know what it must be. It's the sound of several tons of rock, shifting, groaning, about to collapse down on top of us.

"Come on, we have to move!" I'm really shouting now; I don't care who hears me.

She's shouting back. "I can't walk!"

I may not be able to see anything, but I can hear just fine. It only takes seconds to get up, to locate her by sound, to pick her up, to run in a direction that I pray will lead away from the imminent collapse.

I'm running blind, I'm sure to smash into something hard any second now. Behind us, it sounds like an explosion has gone off. The ground is shaking, there's more dust in the air. But nothing has fallen on us. Is it safe now? I stop running.

The ground under my feet feels smooth and level. I kneel and set my "friend" down. My head still hurts where the rock hit me, but from the sounds she was making, I think she's hurt worse than me. Fuck, for all I know, Raphael probably armored my skull.

"Help me get my pack off," she says. So I do. Now I can hear her digging around in it.

"Oh no," she groans softly, "Why this, why now?"

"What? What's wrong?" I ask.

"Idiot!" she snaps at me, "Don't you know a broken ankle when you see one? I won't be able to walk on this!"

"What are you talking about? I can't see a fucking thing in here!"

She doesn't say anything but I can feel air moving in front of my face. What the hell? I reach up and, sure enough, grab her arm that's waving near my nose.

"You should be able to see," she says, "I've got a flashlight turned on."

What?

"You're blind," she tells me.

Oh fuck! Fuck, fuck fuck! What have you done to me, Raphael? Can't you even fix my goddamned _vision_ properly? That fucking rock, it must have damaged something inside my head.

She's laughing, laughing bitterly.

"I have no idea who the hell you are or what you're doing here. All I know is that you can't be with Galactor, and I'd damn well like to know why you were following me. But now, you can't see and I can't walk." She keeps laughing.

Great. I'm blind and I'm trapped in a cave deep underground with a crazy woman who can't walk. This is not the day that I had planned; I had planned to infiltrate the base, steal data on its activities, hopefully learn something about Sosai X, set explosive charges and blow the place sky high (sorry, archaeologists).

What's this? I get a flash of vision –just for a second, I could see! I saw a woman, mask off, a young woman, with short, curly red hair, shining a flashlight on her ankle.

Now I'm in the dark again. Still, that one brief moment of vision gives me a little hope. Maybe I'm not as damaged as I first thought; maybe it's just a malfunction.

"Shine the flashlight around," I tell her, "What do you see?"

"We're in a tunnel. It's about ten feet high and ten feet wide. It's carved right out of the rock. It looks… really old. The way we just came is filled with fallen rock and debris –no going back that way. Further ahead, it looks like it splits into three different tunnels."

It's a labyrinth. Raphael said there was a legend of a labyrinth beneath Harmehr-daro.

"Why can't you see?" she's asking me, "There's some blood in your hair. Did you get hit on the head?"

"Yes, I got hit on the head."

My mind is spinning with questions. Who is she, why is she here, is there a way out of here, how will I find it if I can't see… can I trust this woman at all?

I get an idea.

"Look," I tell her, "I'm an enemy of Galactor. I work alone and I answer to no one, but it seems that neither one of us is going to make it out of here unless we work together. I can walk, you can see. It's simple –I'm going to carry you and you're going to tell me where to go."

She's silent for a moment.

"I'm on a mission of vengeance," she says, "My honor demands that I succeed or die trying. You can carry me, and I'll direct us, but we're going to find a way to get back into that base, not a way to the outside."

That's not quite the response I'm expecting. Most assassins are in it for the money, not for honor.

"I want to know a little more about this mission of yours," I tell her, "Who are you trying to kill?"

"I'm going to kill the Commander of this base. As for the rest of Galactor, I really don't care what they do."

This doesn't exactly fit with my plan of obtaining data and destroying the base, but as far as I'm concerned, a dead Galactor Commander is a good start. Before I can say anything, she speaks again. She's impatient, this one.

"Look, if you help me with my mission, I'll do the decent thing and I'll try to help you get out of here."

"Okay," I say, "Our purposes are in general agreement. We'll work together."

I take off my back pack and shove it in the direction of her voice.

"There's an emergency medical kit in there somewhere. Find it, and we'll wrap up your ankle as tight as we can to stabilize it. There should be some painkillers in there too."

"Damn, this thing is heavy," she says, "You must be stronger than you look."

I don't want to answer that one.

"Hmm," she says, accompanied by rummaging sounds, "You've got a lot of water, food, a flashlight with extra batteries, and a medical kit. I give you credit, you're more prepared than me."

"I was a boy scout," I tell her.

"Oooh, nice gun," she says next.

"I was an angry boy scout."

Wrapping her ankle with athletic bandage proves to be a painful process -for her, that is. I can tell by feel how swollen her ankle is. At any rate, it's fairly immobile and that's the best that can be done for the time being.

I can hear her shaking pills from a bottle, returning things to my back pack.

"There should be a black marker in there somewhere," I tell her, "Find it. We'll need it."

I hate to think how ridiculous we must look. I've got my back pack on again. I'm crouching down, she drags herself up onto my shoulders, with a leg on each side of my neck. I grip her good ankle in my left hand, her shin in my other hand, and stand up.

"I hope you have good balance," she says. Oh, I do. Raphael saw to that.

She's got the flashlight, and the marker.

"Okay," I tell her, "We keep near the wall. Every thirty paces, I'm going to stop and you're going to use that marker to draw an arrow on the tunnel wall, showing the direction we're going, and a number, starting with one. That way, we'll be able to tell where we've been and if we're going in circles. I recommend that we take all the left hand turns, or all the right hand ones; you can pick."

And so it begins. I walk, she holds the flashlight and marks arrows and numbers on the tunnel walls. My world is a monotonous void; walk thirty paces, pause, walk thirty paces, pause. The only variety comes from her directives.

"Move a few feet to the right, there's some rocks on the floor in front of you."

"Move over to the other wall, the tunnel floor's collapsed a bit on this side."

And so it goes.

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It is indeed a labyrinth, and it feels like it goes on for miles. She tells me the tunnel keeps forking in multiple directions, creating a myriad of possible pathways. Some are dead ends, and we have to double back.

My vision flashes again! I catch a fleeting glimpse of her legs in my hands, the flashlight's beam illuminating the tunnel before us. Then, it's gone, just as before.

More walking, and more walking. How long have we been doing this? Shuffling along in darkness, it's really starting to get to me.

Finally, I've had enough. I hoist her off my shoulders and set her on the floor. I take off my pack and sit down too.

"It's time for a break," I say, "We'll rest here for awhile."

She does some more rummaging in my pack, and we eat some food and drink some water. Galactor must have written us off as dead. There's been no sign of any pursuit. She says we haven't encountered any of our markings on the walls, so wherever we're going, we're not going in circles. Not yet.

I'll give her credit for being tough; I can hear her fidgeting, and I know she must be in pain, but she hasn't complained once about her ankle.

Now she's digging around in her own pack. She must be looking for the painkillers that I gave her; she would be due for another dose now. She's dumping things out onto the floor. Something rolls against my hand, and I pick it up.

It feels like a flower, attached to a dart.

"Hey," she says, "Be careful with that. They explode on impact."

I realize what I'm holding. I realize who she is. I feel my heart race, my hands clench.

It's a rose bomb, and she's a Devil Star. She's a fucking, goddamned Devil Star –just like the one that killed my parents, the one that almost killed me. Just like the ones that tried to kill Nambu, Princess Flake of the Monalince Kingdom, the entire Science Ninja Team –and fuck knows who else they've succeeded in killing.

I'll kill her, I'll kill her… But if I kill her, I'll never get out of this labyrinth, I'll never destroy Sosai X.

And wait just a second –if she's a Devil Star, why the hell is she on a mission to kill a Galactor Commander? She wasn't lying. I saw her, back inside the base, and she was clearly setting up to assassinate someone.

Okay, I think, play it cool. Calm down. Breathe. Don't let on that you know what she is. Breathe slowly.

"Are all your corsages this lethal?" I manage to ask.

"It's no corsage," she says, sounding grim. "It's a rose bomb. They're a special symbol of what I am. If I have to, I'll kill the Commander with my rifle, but I have no greater desire in this world than to kill her with a rose bomb. It would be the ultimate example of her dishonor, her treachery.

Her? The Commander of the base is a woman? Hey, I'm all for equal rights and all that, but since when do Galactor bases have female Commanders?

"Sounds like you've got a grudge," I say, "What exactly are you anyway?"

"I'm a Devil Star," she replies, sounding grim. "I'm the only true Devil Star that's still alive."

She pauses for a moment. "I take it you've never heard of us?"

A Devil Star… I knew it. I'm determined now to play this out, to find out as much as I can.

Devil stars… for years a Devil Star haunted my dreams, spurring on my obsession with revenge. No one, not even Berg Katse, could arouse a more visceral hatred within me than a Devil Star. Is there really only one left?

Find out as much as you can, I tell myself, you can always kill her later.

Another flash of vision! I see her, resting with her back against the tunnel wall, staring at a rose bomb she's holding in her hand, eyes unfocused, remembering.

"Soon, no one will remember us anymore. I'm sure that's how she wants it." Her voice is hard, yet somehow sad too.

"Tell me," I say, "I'll remember." That's one promise that I can absolutely guarantee.

When she finally responds, she sounds both proud and sad.

"The Devil Stars were an elite team of assassins, the best in the world. We were all women, united as sisters under our great leader, Onna Taicho."

"Onna Taicho?"

"Onna Taicho was a founder of Galactor, nearly equal in rank to Lord Katse. She was as tall as any man, and strong too. She was magnificent. We flourished under her rule."

It dawns on me, she's talking about that bizarre female Galactor Commander –the Galactor Commander that was the female form of Berg Katse! She doesn't know, I realize, she doesn't know who her revered "Onna Taicho" really was.

"All our assignments came from her. She would announce the name of a target, while we all stood in a circle around her, and then she would choose which one of us would have the honor of the kill. Often she would select a group of us to work together on an assignment. Anything we needed, _anything_ to complete an assignment, she would provide it, or the money to rent or purchase it. We travelled the entire world. Our targets were politicians, royalty, leaders of industry, scientists, military leaders –only worthy targets, only honorable assignments."

"Honorable?"

"Yes, honorable. Any drooling idiot can take a mecha through a city and crush ordinary civilians. Our targets were the powerful and the well-defended. The honor of a Devil Star demanded that she encounter her target face to face whenever possible or at least speak to the target before the kill –and that she use the rose bomb whenever possible. A kill with the rose bomb brought the greatest honor to a Devil Star."

"So what happened to this Onna Taicho?"

"That isn't known," she says, sounding sadly hollow.

"She disappeared?"

"The last time we Devil Stars assembled with her, it was shortly before the destruction of the Karakoram headquarters. We came to believe, later, that she must have been there, probably with Lord Katse himself, and that she shared his fate. It was a terrible time for us. Without her, we were nothing –no purpose, no honor."

"No funding?"

"Yes," she laughs bitterly, "That too."

"So you disbanded then?"

"No!" she snaps, "We were devastated, but we stayed strong and united. We all agreed that she with the most experience, the most kills, would be our new leader and that we would follow her unwaveringly. To be a Devil Star is to belong to an elite sisterhood; our unity, our absolute devotion to one another, to our code –that was our true strength. You, you say you only work alone –you wouldn't understand."

Oh, I understand. I force myself, every day, not to think about them. I understand so well my heart aches if I think of them. But I can't keep them out of my dreams. I wake suddenly at night with flashes of memory still vivid.

Fighting alongside Ken, we decimate Galactor soldiers, and he gives me the look, he never says anything, but the glint in his eyes is all "_are we good or what_?" We were good. We were the best.

The five of us, as one, leap from an exploding mecha and soar, wings spread, down to the awaiting God Phoenix.

Hanging around the Snack J, late into the night, laughing, talking about nothing, and everything.

I understand. It would be easier now though, if I didn't. I can't go back. I'm not that person anymore; he died.

I'm just a ghost now, forced to remain in this world, in a foreign shell, never knowing peace until one final task is completed.

She's talking again.

"Vivian –curse her name for all eternity! We all chose her to be our new leader. We continued on. It wasn't the same. We had to advertise our skill now, quietly, among the rich and powerful in order to obtain assignments, in order to obtain money. Our lives became much harder, but we were still Devil Stars, still united, still the best assassins. We still had our honor."

"So what happened?"

"Vivian!" she hisses, "Vivian betrayed us! She betrayed her sisters, betrayed everything we stand for! She summoned us, one month ago, and we stood in a circle around her. Then, Galactor soldiers –ordinary, pathetic Galactor soldiers- stormed the room, dozens of them, and began mowing us down with machine guns, while Vivian smiled. Smiled, while her sisters died around her, with no honor! There were forty-seven of us that day, and now there is only one. I'm the only one who escaped."

I can hear her breathing heavily.

My vision flashes! I see her, see the tears on her face, her clenched hands, and then it's dark again.

"Vivian is now the Commander of this base, and I am going to kill her and avenge my sisters –and she will know before she dies that it is I who has killed her. I will complete this self-given assignment or die –that is the way of the Devil Stars. She who fails to kill her target must take her own life; it is the honorable way. Whether I succeed or fail, I, the last of the Devil Stars, _will_ die with honor!"

She's silent after this. We sit for awhile, until I decide we'd better get moving again. The more we explore the labyrinth, the better our chances of finding a way back into the base.

So, we return to our tedious pattern of me walking with her on my shoulders, warning me of obstacles, with pauses every thirty paces so that she can mark the wall. Hours go by. I begin to truly fear that we will wander this labyrinth until we run out of light, food, and water. I stumble, and sway to regain my balance. That's when I realize that I've now gone at least thirty-six hours without sleep.

"What number did you just write?" I ask.

"One thousand, three hundred and twenty-six."

"We're stopping here. We have to rest."

We eat some food, drink some water, and make ourselves as comfortable as we can on the tunnel floor. I'm guessing she's turned off the flashlight to save the batteries; she's lying really close to me, as if the darkness disturbs her. She must be cold; I can tell she's shivering. I don't know why the hell I even give a damn, but I find myself taking off my jacket and giving it to her.

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I wake suddenly from a dream, to blackness. I was sitting on the hill behind Nambu's house, staring out at the sea. Jun was there, she was trying to talk to me, trying to help me…

Oh Jun, where are you now? Where are all of you now? Did Ken ever, finally, open up to you? How tall is Jinpei now? Did Ryu ever finish that sailboat he was building, the one he said he would name after his mother?

She's awake. She's fidgeting beside me.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine; I just need some more painkillers."

I hear the sound of pills rattling in a bottle.

We're awake; we might as well talk.

"How did you become a Devil Star?"

"My mother was a Devil Star. Onna Taicho disapproved of Devil Stars becoming mothers –she said it sapped our focus, made us weak- but she would tolerate it if we remained unattached from the fathers, and especially if we gave birth to girls. Any daughter of a Devil Star was pledged at birth to join our order at age fourteen, and undergo training for four years."

"So that's how it was for you?"

"Yes. Onna Taicho only ever made one exception; she allowed one Devil Star to marry, and retire from the order, but only because she was marrying a man high in Galactor's ranks. She was my mother's age. They were two of the first Devil Stars ever recruited, and they were as close as two sisters. I can remember that when I was very small, my mother would often leave me at her friend's home, sometimes for days, when she had an assignment that took her far away."

"Later, the husband, he tried to leave Galactor and take her and their son with him. Onna Taicho chose my mother to be the one to kill them. Yes, my mother was assigned to kill her best friend, a former Devil Star who had become a traitor, and she did it, unwaveringly. My mother held to our code without question, with total honor, but she never spoke of Katarina ever again."

_Katarina_! If my guts were ripped out of me, it might begin to feel like what I feel right now…

No, no, not my mother! How could she have been one of _them_? It's a lie! This bitch is lying!

But memories… memories are flooding my mind…

Our villa on BC Island, sun pouring in the windows, my mother is there, and a little girl with curly red hair…

"Mama! I don't want to play with her, she's a girl!"

"Now Giorgio, she is our guest and you must be polite. Take Nina down to the beach with you. I will call you in when it's time for dinner."

At the hideout… Alan's there, and so is Nina. Alan is showing her how to hit the punching bag.

"Not too bad for a girl," he says.

Nina laughs, "Just wait until I'm fourteen!"

Now I just feel cold, and numb, and sick.

Nina, the woman beside me is Nina, and it was her mother who killed my parents, and my mother was a Devil Star too…

I'm a cyborg and I'm lost in a labyrinth with the daughter of the woman who has haunted my worst dreams, and my mother was an assassin for Galactor…

I have to find and destroy Sosai X soon, because I don't think I can handle the misery that is my existence for much longer.

"Are you asleep?"

I startle at the sound of Nina's voice.

"No."

"Then maybe we should get moving again."

"Fine."

0000000000

We're moving through the tunnels again. I pause, and my vision flashes. I see Nina drawing an arrow, she's just written one thousand six hundred and eleven.

I can't stop thinking about my mother. I can't stop thinking about Nina's mother. What ever happened to her?

"Did your mother die in that massacre, the one that you said happened a month ago?"

"No, my mother has been dead longer than that."

I have to ask, I have to know.

"What happened to her?"

"About ten years after my mother killed Katarina, the husband, the son… It was discovered that the boy, George, had never actually died. His grave was empty."

She's speaking with difficulty now.

"My mother had failed to complete her assignment; she had failed to kill all her targets. Honor, the code of the Devil Stars, demanded that she take her own life as a consequence of her failure. And she did… with a rose bomb. _No one_ believed more strongly in honor than my mother!"

I can hardly believe it…

By returning to BC Island, that one time, I brought about the death of my parents' killer and I never even knew it.

"The last time I ever saw Onna Taicho, shortly before she disappeared, she told me that George had gone on to become Condor Joe of the Science Ninja Team. My mother's failure enabled the survival of a boy who became one of our most hated enemies, the same boy that I remembered _playing with_ when I stayed at Katarina's home all those years ago. It was the worst news I'd ever heard. The Science Ninja Team, they were the only ones, the _only_ ones, who ever defeated the Devil Stars."

She laughs bitterly.

"But Condor Joe is dead too; the ISO has all but admitted as much, so that's all over now. I'm sure the rest of the Science Ninja Team has long since disbanded."

I can't think of anything to say.

"Stop for a moment," she says.

I wonder what she would do if she knew whose shoulders she's sitting on right now. As far as I'm concerned, though, she's not sitting on Condor Joe. I'm not him anymore; I'm his corpse, rigged up to keep breathing and moving.

"We've been at this intersection before. We came from the tunnel straight ahead and we went down the one on the left. Number one thousand four hundred and eighty-two. We'll take the one on the right this time. We haven't gone that way."

So we go that way.

Walking and then more walking…

"Stop, there's something here!"

She sounds excited.

"It's a panel, in the tunnel wall. It's just like the one you kicked through before!"

It looks like we've finally found a way back inside the Galactor base.

We get up close to it and we listen. It sounds quiet on the other side.

"Kick it!" she says, climbing down off my shoulders.

So I do.

0000000000

We're back inside the base, and Nina's back on my shoulders.

It's quiet, except for the hum of electrical equipment and ventilation fans.

"We're in some kind of basement level. There doesn't seem to be anyone here. Go forward about ten paces, then turn left and keep walking."

"What am I hearing?"

"It looks like it must be the main power supply for the base. Nuclear, I'd guess."

"Get off me, and start looking in my pack. I have some explosive charges, with timers. Find them."

"No!" she says, sounding angry. "We are _not_ blowing this base up before I've found Vivian and killed her personally!"

She gets down from my shoulders, however.

"You and your honor… Fine! We set one charge, to explode in one hour, right here at the main power source. That gives you time to find Vivian, and if we still haven't located her in an hour, the explosion will be a useful distraction –it'll get everyone running around in confusion. We'll set the other nine charges to go off in two hours, and spread them throughout this basement level, well concealed. Needless to say, I don't want to still be here in two hours –got that?"

She doesn't answer me, but I can feel her digging through my pack.

Jun… I'm thinking of Jun. Of course, I realize, I'm using one of her classic tactics –first distract, then destroy. Ken and I would use that hour interval to wreak our special brand of havoc…

I'm submerged in a feeling of aching loneliness…

Stop this! Stop thinking about them! It doesn't do me any good now!

My vision flashes; all I see is a dimly lit industrial-looking space, with pipes and conduits.

"Alright, I've got all the charges, and I've set one here. Let me get back up."

I walk, she directs. We hide the remaining charges all throughout this lower level.

"We need to get off this level. Start walking to your right; I see something that might be an elevator."

A minute later, she tells me that it is, in fact, an elevator.

"We can go back to that upper level we started from," she tells me, "There wasn't anyone up there before, and there probably won't be now."

Sounds like a plan to me, provided we avoid being spotted by laser cannons. We get in the elevator, and she pushes buttons.

I feel a slow lifting sensation.

Now I hear something. A sound of something electronic… processing?

"Shit! Do you see a surveillance camera-"

Suddenly, the elevator slams to a halt. There's a hissing noise, and the air reeks, my eyes sting.

"Damn it!" cries Nina, "They're on to us, they're gassing us…"

0000000000

I'm awake again.

My head aches. I'm upright, arms and legs manacled to a smooth, cold wall.

"Well, looks who's awake."

It's a woman's voice, but not one that I recognize.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the Commander of this base."

"You're a piece of filth!" This is Nina's voice.

I hear a sharp smack, hear Nina try to suppress a cry of pain.

"I'm the Commander of a Galactor base. You, Nina, are the one who's nothing now."

My vision flashes. I see a brightly lit room. Nina's manacled beside me. There's an older woman standing in front of Nina. At least a dozen Galactor soldiers are in the room too.

Everything is dark again.

"I am a Devil Star! I have my honor! You! –you betrayed us, betrayed everything we stand for! You are the lowest, foulest, most despicable –Aaah!"

Vivian must have hit her again, even harder.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand, Nina. You're young, and idealistic…. and stupid!"

I can hear Nina breathing, seething.

"The Devil Stars were a dying breed, a relic of the past. There was no place for them in Galactor's new order. But I was the only one smart enough to realize that! I went to Gel Sadra, and I pledged my loyalty to her."

"Then why did you have us all killed! You were our leader! We would have followed you without question, even under Gel Sadra!" Nina's voice is raw with grief and anger.

"Gel Sadra didn't want the Devil Stars! We had always been a completely independent wing of Galactor, answering only to Onna Taicho. Gel Sadra didn't trust the Devil Stars, didn't trust me. She doesn't trust _anything_ from Berg Katse's time! She demanded a demonstration of my new loyalty to her; she demanded the complete destruction of the Devil Stars, and promised me a Command position within Galactor if I accomplished it."

"How _could_ you? How do you live with yourself?" Nina's whispering now.

"The Devil Stars were doomed no matter what. I made a choice, Nina, to save myself. That's called survival instinct, Nina! Unlike you, I actually have it! You shouldn't have come here; you should have hid yourself far, far away."

"My honor brought me here, Vivian! Honor! Unlike you, I actually have it!"

Vivian doesn't respond to this immediately.

"You say you have honor, Nina? If that's true, then why are you here with Condor Joe of the Science Ninja Team?"

Oh shit.

"What?" Nina gasps, "Condor Joe is dead!"

"That's what everyone seems to believe. So you believe it too? I can tell you this; not long before she disappeared, Onna Taicho sent me a photograph of a man, a man she said was Condor Joe. She wanted to know if I had ever seen him or if I knew who he might be in the civilian world. I'd never seen him, but I stored the photo in the Devil Star database. Here's a copy of it now. What do you think, Nina? Doesn't it look just like him?"

Nina doesn't answer, and I certainly don't have anything to say.

"So, Nina, where's that honor you hold so dear? You're consorting with a Science Ninja, a sworn enemy of all Devil Stars!"

I hear the roar of a distant explosion, shaking the floor and wall. One hour's up –the first charge has detonated.

"What the hell was that?" Vivian is shouting, "All of you! Investigate it, now!"

I hear the soldiers running out of the room.

Vivian hisses, "You're both supposed to be dead. When I come back, I guarantee you'll both die _very_ real deaths!"

Footsteps leaving, a door slams.

The room is utterly silent for a while, except for Nina breathing.

"The day my mother killed you, George, killed your parents, she told me what she'd done. I actually cried, George, for you! She slapped me across the face, told me a Devil Star _never_ feels remorse, even if she's assigned to kill a friend."

"What are you saying, Nina?"

"You were my friend! God, you were my enemy too… What the fuck are you now, George?" She's yelling now.

"What am I? I'm the thing that's going to get you out of this room so you can kill Vivian."

"And how the hell are you planning to do that?"

"Like this."

Drawing on every bit of cyborg strength I can possibly muster, I rip the manacles around my hands clean out of the wall behind me.

"Oh my God…"

Next, I free my legs.

Then it's Nina's turn.

"George, I don't understand. No one-"

"By any chance, are our packs in this room?"

"What? Wait, yes, they're under a table."

"Are all the lights still on?"

"No, since the explosion, only emergency lights are on. It's pretty dark."

"Good, that will just add to the chaos, and conceal our movements. Tell me where the packs are. You're going to get your weapons, and then we're going to go find Vivian. We've got nearly one hour."

I hear her hopping across the floor on her good foot, and then I hear her hopping and dragging our packs.

I sense there are many things she wants to say to me but she's keeping quiet, for now. We assemble ourselves yet again, with her on my shoulders, and we leave the room.

I hear warning alarms sounding, distant shouts and sounds of booted feet running fast. I walk where Nina tells me to; I have no idea where we're going. I have no idea if she knows where we're going.

There's a sound of many feet heading towards us. Nina directs me to what must be some kind of storage closet, and we hide, and we wait.

And we wait. There are still too many people running up and down this hallway, or whatever it is.

Later, it's quiet and we emerge again. I walk for awhile.

"Nina, we don't have much time left."

"I'm not leaving yet!" she whispers harshly.

Footsteps, and a voice, are approaching.

"Carry out the repairs to the power grid, immediately, and sweep the entire base for intruders again. I'll be in the interrogation room. Report to me there!"

It's Vivian.

Nina is frantic. She drops down from my shoulders, hopping, pulling me.

"This way!" she whispers, "Get behind here."

My vision flashes. I see very little. Only small yellow emergency lights keep total darkness at bay. We're just around a corner, in a hallway, pressed against a wall.

It's dark for me again, but I can hear Vivian's footsteps, coming near.

Very near, she'll round the corner and see us, any second now.

There's a faint rushing sound, like a shuriken in flight, followed by a gasp of pain, and shock.

"_No, noooooo_!" It's Vivian, screaming in rage.

There's an explosion, I feel air from the blast hitting me, and then there's silence.

"_Yes, Oh yes! My sisters are avenged_!"

She's exultant, she's trembling.

"Get back on my shoulders, Nina. We have to get out of here; this whole place is going to blow soon."

I give her a shake, and she finally comes to her senses, gets back on my shoulders.

"Time to get us out of here!"

"I saw some large bay doors down this way. There might be aircraft parked inside them."

"Just tell me which way to go."

0000000000

She's right, thank God. We're in a hangar, she tells me, and there's a plane. She helps me get inside it, and I find myself in some kind of cockpit chair. I hear a motor running, metal scraping.

"I've opened the hangar doors to the outside! They were hidden in that cliff face we climbed up! We're going to fly out of here!"

I hear airplane engines revving.

"Please tell me you know how to fly this thing!"

"I've flown things that are sort of like it before… Here we go!"

And we're off, away from Harmehr-daro.

A moment later, I hear distant explosions. The base is destroyed. Not Sosai X, but a good start.

"What does it look like?"

"There's lots of flames. It's dark outside now. It looks almost… pretty."

I slump down in my seat. I feel utterly drained; too much has happened for me to be able to think about it all right now. Me, my mother, Nina… I don't know what to feel. I've never felt so confused, so uncertain.

She's not speaking either. I can hear her rattling the bottle of painkillers. We fly on in silence.

0000000000

The plane's wheels connect with the ground. We're landing, somewhere.

"Where are we?"

"We're at an airfield near Karachi. We won't get any further without more fuel, and I need to rest."

The plane's stopped moving. She shuts down its engine.

She digs around in my pack again, and we eat the last of the food, drink some more water.

"How's your ankle feeling?"

"It's a dull ache now. It only really hurts if I try to put a lot of weight on it."

"You need to see a doctor."

"So do you."

We're avoiding all the real questions. What do we do now? Where do we go from here?

Somewhere during our time together, I realize, I lost the desire to kill her. Both of our mothers are dead now, and neither one of us is really to blame for that. Neither one of us is to blame for anything that our mothers did.

She was never given a choice about becoming a Devil Star. Hell, I never really had a choice about becoming a Science Ninja; there was no way I could have let Ken, Jun, Ryu and Jinpei face that danger, that adventure, without me.

If it weren't for Nina, I'd still be wandering blind in the labyrinth beneath Harmehr-daro, until I died of thirst. If it weren't for me, she'd still be there too.

"How did you break those manacles?"

"What?"

"Those manacles, how did you break them? And your pack, it weighs a ton. How did you carry it and me, all that distance?"

I don't answer her.

"No one is that strong… not unless they've got some kind of cybernetic enhancement. Where did you get it done?"

I'm in shock.

"You know about… that stuff?"

"Well, yes! There were a few Devil Stars who had it, ones who'd been badly injured in accidents. Onna Taicho made it possible; she knew a Galactor scientist who did the best cybernetic work in the world, though later I heard that he'd disappeared."

I don't believe this.

"The Devil Stars, they just had limbs replaced, stuff like that. They didn't get any special abilities. But you, you're really something! What else did you get besides the super strength?"

"You're not creeped out by this shit?"

"No. Should I be?"

I can't answer her.

Somehow I can tell she's staring at me, scrutinizing me. She doesn't say anything for a minute.

"Hey, if it bothers you so much, why'd you get it done?"

Something inside me snaps.

"I was never given a fucking, goddamned choice! If I had my way, I'd have died at Karakoram! _I'm supposed to be dead_. Everyone I care about thinks I'm dead, and I'm sure they've mourned me and then gotten on with the rest of their lives! I should be dead, because I sure as hell don't feel alive! I feel like a fucking undead monster, an abomination-"

"-I'll prove you're alive."

My vision flashes; I can see her hobbling towards me, eyes fixed on me, taking her jacket off.

"What are you doing? Don't touch me."

But she's touching me.

She's pulling me down onto the floor of the plane, pushing me onto my back. I should be resisting; I don't want this. Why am I not stopping her?

I can feel her straddling my hips.

"Nina, what are you-"

She's kissing me; her mouth feels supple, hot, and wet…

She's taking my hands, and bringing them to her breasts…

She's moving her hips in small circles, pushing against me…

Oh dear God, maybe I do want this…

Her mouth leaves mine. Is she taking off her shirt?

Yes, she is. My hands are on her waist. I slide them up her body, over her breasts, her shoulders, down her arms. Her body feels lithe yet strong. She's kissing me again, probing my mouth with her tongue, she's entwined one hand so tightly in my hair, I couldn't pull away if I wanted to…

I don't want to…

I shouldn't want this, she's a Devil Star, but I can't resist what she's making this body feel. It's as if I'd never been touched before; it's all new again, it's so powerful, it's so good…

I feel for her breasts again, find her nipples, pinch them lightly with my fingers…

Still kissing me, she moans softly, still moving her hips against me. I'm moving mine in response, it's as involuntary as breathing. She's trying to pull my shirt off; I raise my arms and head, helping her do it.

She's moving her hands over me, over the skin that isn't mine. I shouldn't be able to feel like this; how can it feel like this? She's kissing me, on my throat, my chest, my stomach…

She's moving downward; is she doing what I think she's doing? Ahh… She is. She's unzipped my pants, she's pulling them down, my shorts too. I don't need to see to know that I'm rock hard…

She's blowing air on me, cool air –it's enough to make me spasm. Then I feel her mouth on me, hot and tight, moving up and down…

I cry out, I can't help it. I'd forgotten how it feels, forgotten how achingly good it feels...

She pulls her mouth away.

"Tell me this doesn't feel good," she says, "Tell me again that you're not alive."

"I'll tell you to get your pants off. Will that do?"

She takes them off, and then she's straddling me again, but now she's on my stomach. I can feel her legs on either side of my chest, squeezing me. I stroke her thighs, her stomach, her breasts. I reach higher, and she catches my fingers with her mouth, suckling them. Then she moves them down, down to the place where she wants them the most.

She's slick with arousal. I stroke where I know she wants me to…

She's squeezing me rhythmically with her thighs, softly moaning, over and over.

She's moving again, impaling herself on me, thrusting against me. Pleasure floods my body like liquid fire, so intense. How can this be?

My vision flashes again. I see Nina above me, her head arched back.

She cries out, no words, just the sounds of physical bliss. I realize that I'm gasping, grabbing her hips to push her down, hard, against me, again and again…

My dark world explodes, waves of release cascade through my body. I'm clutching Nina against me. I don't need to see, everything is the feel of her sweaty skin against mine, our ragged breathing, the warm scent of her body. It's everything…

0000000000

I wake up. I'm lying on the floor of the plane, looking up at the ceiling. Outside, it's getting light. It must be just after dawn. There's a blanket over me.

_I can see_. My vision is back. I wait, hardly daring to breathe or move, but it stays. I can see again.

I sit up, and then I see Nina. She's got her clothes back on and she's sitting in one of the cockpit chairs, facing me.

For the first time in about fourteen years, I finally get a chance to really look at her.

She's just staring at me too, not speaking.

This is awkward. I don't know what to say to her. I start looking for my clothes, putting them back on.

She breaks the silence.

"When did your vision come back?"

"It just came back now, or sometime while I was sleeping."

She's still staring at me, sitting stiffly.

"Devil Star honor requires me to kill you."

What? Is she joking? No, her eyes are too serious… too sad. I tense in wariness, waiting for her to make a move. Is it really going to come to this, after all we did together?

"The daughter of a Devil Star owes it to her mother to complete any task her mother failed, if it is possible. I didn't think it was possible. I thought you were already dead."

"Nina, you don't have to do this!"

Now she's looking down, shaking her head slowly.

"I'm not going to try to kill you, George. I don't think I'd succeed if I tried, not if you can see again, but I don't want to kill you."

I relax a little, breathe again. I don't want to have to kill her either.

"I said that Devil Star honor requires it, but I'm no longer a Devil Star. The Devil Stars are no more. I don't know what I am now."

Staring into her eyes, I know exactly how she feels.

"I don't know what I am anymore either."

"You told me you work alone. Why aren't you with the other Science Ninjas?"

"That's over. I've been gone too long. I can't go back to them now."

Now I'm the one staring downward.

"Sooner or later, they'd find out what I am now, find out that I'm a cyborg. I would _never_ be able to handle the look in their eyes, when they found out what I am. It would just hurt too much."

"And avoiding them, you're saying that doesn't hurt? If I could, I'd go back to the Devil Stars, back to my sisters, but I can't –they're all dead! You don't have that problem, and I think you're all wrong about cyborgs. What we do, what we feel, our choices, our memories, our fears, our desires –those make us alive, make us human, George. _You are human!_"

I'm looking into her eyes again. There are tears in her eyes. She stands up.

"I'm going to leave now. I called for a cab and it's here. I'm not going to tell you where I'm going, and don't try to find me. The plane is yours now. Take it wherever you like."

Her eyes are pulling me in. Tears are running down her face now. I go to her, put my arms around her. She holds on to me tightly, but then pulls away. She's right; this is how it has to be. But for that moment, holding her, I wish it weren't.

"Good bye, George."

"Good bye, Nina."

0000000000

So here I am now, back at Raphael's lab, thinking about everything that happened at Harmehr-daro, at that airfield near Karachi.

I'm thinking about Nina, and what she said to me.

I'm thinking about Ken, and Jun, and Jinpei, and Ryu…

Could I really go back to them? Could Nina be right? Would they accept me the way I am now?

Together we'd be stronger. Together we were _always_ stronger.

Together, I know we would destroy Sosai X.

But I don't know if I can go back.

I just don't know what to do… not yet.

0000000000

Raphael's just come into the room.

"I apologize for your vision problem; I take pride in my work and I assure you it won't happen again."

_Great_, I'm under warranty.

"What," he asks me, "Do you know about Easton Island?"

And so it goes. I'll continue my quest to track down and destroy Sosai X.

I think about her, the last of the Devil Stars, alone in the world. I realize now that I want to go back to them, I don't really want to be alone like this, but I'm still not convinced that I have a choice.

Not yet.


End file.
